Overview
- Warsh, 55, previously served on the Fed Board from 2006 to 2011, becoming the youngest governor at 35 and later joining the Hoover Institution and Stanford as an academic fellow and lecturer.
- If confirmed, he would take over when Powell’s chair term ends in May, but Sen. Thom Tillis has vowed to block Fed nominees until the DOJ probe of Powell concludes, a stance Senate leaders say could be decisive.
- Financial markets priced in the nomination with the dollar and long-term Treasury yields rising as gold fell more than 5% and silver dropped over 13%.
- Warsh has shifted from a crisis-era inflation hawk to recently advocating lower rates and sharper balance-sheet reduction, aligning at times with President Trump’s calls for easing.
- Lawmakers and analysts say the pick will test the Federal Reserve’s political independence, given the administration’s pressure on rate policy and the unusual legal scrutiny of the current chair.